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12/6/12

Review: A Week in Electronic Music with Bassnectar, Madonna and ATB

By the end of the show I felt as if starting things off with Bassnectar was a little bit backwards... Thankfully I carry around my Earlove ear plugs or I would have blown my ears as soon as Lorin Ashton, known to us as Bassnectar, dropped the very low frequencied "Hot Right Now" to kick off an amazing and heart pounding set at the Fillmore.

Producing since the early 90s, Bassnectar's ever evolving style was showcased in a few-hour magical journey. The musical styles are inconsistent, but serious sub-bass and headbanging are guaranteed. His set covered every base (pun intended) and had stellar production to compliment. The visual journey was enough to stimulate the hundreds of bassheads on this trip as, true to form, the experience was fresh and like nothing experienced before.

Bassnectar will be rounding out the year in the USA including a New Year's Eve show in Nashville, TN. The next night was the concert experience of a lifetime. Madonna made her "hometown" return for a one night only appearance at the Joe Louis Arena. Getting to experience this show from Madonna's coveted "Golden Triangle" was enough to make any person's night. I had been waiting for a spot like this forever! After winning pit tickets from Madonna's manager (thanks Guy!) I got to share this night with some of the best people I know :~The set list blended a lot of Madonna's latest MDNA material and a handful of back-catalogue favorites.

Probably one of the most notable moments was Madonna proclaiming it's "so good to be back home" (though she has publicly made her other opinion about Detroit known in the past...) This soon turned into a rant about newly reelected President Barack Obama. Jeers and obvious boos flowed from the crowd to which, in true Detroit style, Madonna told us off...

A unified Joe Louis Arena belted out the classics like "Express Yourself" and "Like a Prayer" while Madonna, still rock solid at 54, worked the crowd with a slew of dancers including her son (with film director Guy Ritchie) Rocco Ritchie.

Did I mention that Madonna's opener was world-famous Trance Producer/DJ Paul Oakenfold? Since Madonna was fashionably tardy to the show, it was nice to have such an epic warmup to keep the buzz going. His set was tame with minimal production, but Oakenfold did pull out a few surprises though by having Madonna's lead guitarist come up on stage to "jam" with him, as well as dropping "Put Your Hands Up For Detroit", giving the obvious energy burst.

It was nice to have Oakenfold, as well as local favorite and Perfecto Records label mate, Kenneth Thomas, join us in the pit for an amazing rest of the evening.

To round out an epic week, Elektricity did it again by having Producer/DJ ATB come to Detroit for the VERY FIRST TIME to celebrate their one year anniversary party. Congrats Elektricity, and thank you for what you do. It was amazing to finally see this trance legend, who has been producing now for over 20 years, right here at home. He opened with "Ecstacy" but teased us all night with the late 90s classic "9 PM" (which he promised to play next time..)

Per usual the lights and sound were on point, the energy was high, and the crowd might have been higher...

André Tanneberger, currently #21 on the coveted "Top 100 DJs" list, played mostly newer material. Personally, I was hoping to hear more of the old classics, but I guess it's not 1998 anymore and he did blow us away with recent hits.